National President of CETAG, Mr. Maxwell Bunu, has announced that the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) will maintain its indefinite strike action until all outstanding issues are fully resolved.
The strike commenced today, Monday, November 24, 2025, following an emergency meeting of CETAG’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on November 19. In consultation with the National Council, the NEC resolved to withdraw all teaching services effective immediately.
This decision comes in response to the government’s failure to implement the National Labour Commission’s (NLC) arbitral award issued on May 2, 2023.
In an interview on Abusua 965FM’s program AbusuaNkommo, hosted by Kojo Marfo, Mr. Bunu emphasized that CETAG remains steadfast in its demand for complete resolution of their concerns before returning to classrooms.
“Exactly so because we’ve been very magnanimous enough not to hold the country to ransom. We are law abiding so when we went on strike previously and the migration was done, we felt that once the government has shown good faith why not we suspend the strike and then let the processes go through and that was the crime we’ve committed,” he noted.
Mr. Bunu explained that the decision to suspend the previous strike was made in good faith, trusting the government’s commitment to resolve outstanding matters. However, after the suspension, government action stalled.
“The moment we suspended the strike and they had the first one done, then they gone back to sleep. No amount of diplomacy seemed to be working. You go there and they say we’re working on it, the minister is yet to sign… it was one story after the other,” he said.
When asked if the strike would continue until all demands were met, Mr. Bunu was clear stating, “Where we’ve gotten now, we’ve learnt our lessons and we want to make sure that all these issues are resolved before we get back to the lecture halls.”
On the matter of students currently on campuses, Mr. Bunu clarified that student affairs fall outside CETAG’s jurisdiction.
“Our duty is to teach but certainly we are dissatisfied with our condition. The students, I think, are there; we also have our brothers and sisters among them, so we expect the government to act as early as practicable so that we can go back and continue with our work,” he added.
The strike stems from critical unresolved grievances, including:
- Non-payment of all-year-round work compensation for additional duties performed in 2022 across 39 Colleges of Education, with only partial payment made to Accra College of Education.
- Outstanding book and research allowance arrears for the 2023/2024 academic year.
- Outstanding book and research allowance arrears for the 2022/2023 academic year.
- Book and research top-up arrears for the 2021/2022 academic year owed to Akrokerri College of Education.
- The downgrading of experienced teaching staff holding master’s degrees, undermining professional dignity and violating agreed conditions of service and the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).
Source: www.Kumasimail.com
